Gambling Commission reports decline in active accounts and GGY

Active accounts and gross gambling yield (GGY) have decreased from March 2020 to May 2021, according to the latest data from the Gambling Commission.

The former decreased 14%, with the latter decreasing 5%. Total bets meanwhile remained at a similar level.

Slots GGY increased to £211m from April to May, with the number of spins increasing 2% and active players decreasing 5%. The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than one hour decreased by 1%, with the average session length increasing to 20.7 minutes. Almost 9% of all sessions lasted over one hour.

The data aims to show how the evolving Covid-19 lockdown measures have impacted online gambling behaviour in Great Britain.

The Commission did, however, note that it is “not advisable to make year-on-year comparisons between months in 2020 and months in 2021, due to differing operating circumstances of 2020 and 2021.”

The body also urged operators to increase vigilance going forward, saying: “We recognise that the country is now entering a different phase as we continue to ease out of lockdown. We continue to expect extra vigilance from operators as consumers are impacted in different ways by the circumstances. Many people will still feel vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period and further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances.

“It is likely many have picked up new gambling routines and habits during lockdown that may be hard to change as things return to normal, even as normal spending on other things resumes. This could be challenging for some and important for operators to identify through their monitoring.”